an investigation into the concept of mapping

7/31/2019 An Investigation Into the Concept of Mapping

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UNIVERSITY OF WOLVERHAMPTON LEARNING AND TEACHING PROJECTS 2003/2004

Centre for Learning and Teaching www.wlv.ac.uk/celt 89

An investigation into the concept ofmind mapping and the use of mindmapping software to support and

improve student academic performance.

Brian Holland ([email protected])School of Art and DesignLynda Holland ([email protected])Jenny Davies ([email protected])School of Computing and Information Technology

Background and rationaleThis project set out to investigate if the technique of mind mapping could be used toimprove the study and planning skills of second year Digital Media students from theSchool of Art and Design (SAD) and first year students on the History of Computingmodule from the School of Computing and Information Technology (SCIT). Both sets ofstudents were shown how mind mapping could be used to plan the different types of workthat they needed to undertake for their modules. MindManager software was installed inselected computer labs and the students were given tuition on how to use the software.

Both sets of students involved in the project were seen to be computer literate and usecomputers to produce the majority of their course work. Students within SAD and SCIT

tend to prioritise practical course work and therefore fail to develop appropriate skills thatenable them to achieve good grades for written work. Often they fail because they havenot developed appropriate skills in the organization and presentation of ideas, conceptsand research. This weakness is often present in their practical work as well, but studentsare inclined to compensate by expending considerably more time and resources in theirpractical activities. It was anticipated that by introducing the students to the concept ofmind mapping and the use of MindManager software that their study skills performance

would be improved by providing them with a visual way to plan not just essay writing butalso the more practical work that they undertake.

Mind mapping is a visual way to record and organize information where a map is drawnup which does not rely on large amounts of written information, but on textual descriptors

and graphical clues. Mind mapping concepts are thought to appeal to a wide variety ofdifferent learning styles, and because MindManager is an attractive and easy to use piece ofsoftware it should make the concept of planning work more appealing to students. Thesoftware exports information in outline form to word processing and presentation software,facilitating the link between the graphical organization of ideas and the realization of thoseideas in written form.

It was thought that improving students ability to plan out their work should lead to animprovement in the quality of the practical and written work that they submit andconsequently in their grades and self esteem. Investigating the use of this technique withstudents from different schools would help identify needs that are generic and needs thatare specific and help us to understand the difference. The introduction of effective software

tools to assist student performance promotes the wider use of Technology SupportedLearning across the learning environment.


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90 www.wlv.ac.uk/celt Centre for Learning and Teaching

The innovation

Questionnaires were designed and administered to students at the beginning and at the endof the first semester of the academic year 2003/4. Comprehensive materials to support theproject were produced and included several presentations on the origins and uses of mindmapping as a technique and also to demonstrate the use of MindManager software.

Workbooks were produced for the students. Minor differences were a consequence of thedifferent essay title and content required of each group.

Focus group meetings were held with both sets of teaching staff and with students at theend of the module in order to ascertain staff reactions to the quality of student worksubmitted and students perceptions as to the effectiveness of mind mapping as a techniqueand MindManager as a software tool.

The questionnaire was essentially in two parts: one part with questions about the techniqueof mind mapping and the other about the software application MindMapping as a technique.

The results

Responses were received from 40 SAD students and from 79 SCIT students.

Figure 1: Understanding the concept

SCIT students SAD students

fig 1-a Understanding the concept (SCIT) fig 1-b Understanding the concept (SAD)

Given that 62.5% of SAD students compared with 34% of SCIT students responded thatthey totally agreed it would appear that SAD students seemed more confident in theirunderstanding of the concept of mind mapping. This may be understandable given their

visual culture.

Figure 2: Organisation


fig 2-a Organising your essay (SCIT) fig 2-b Organising your essay (SAD)


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Again SAD students appear have a more positive response to this question although itmust be noted that most students overall found the technique useful.

Figure 3: Extended use of technique


fig 3-a Extended use of the technique fig 3-b Extended use of the technique(SCIT) (SAD)

There appears to be a consistent but small number of SCIT students that see no benefit tousing this technique even though they claim to fully understand it.

Figure 4: Continued use of technique


fig 4-a Continued use of the technique fig 4-b Continued use of the technique(SCIT) (SAD)

The pattern of this result is very similar to the previous one however it is a significantlydifferent question in that it seeks to understand if students see applications for mind mappingapart from essay planning. SAD students seemed to understand the benefit of using thetechnique for project managing their media projects which were in many cases team basedactivities.

The work done by the module teams to introduce the concept of mind mapping throughpresentation and workbook was clearly successful in helping students understand thetechnique and situations in which it could be applied. Only a very small number of studentsfelt that the technique offered no practical assistance in improving their essay writingabilities while most felt that it had a very positive effect.

Comments from students in relation to this section include:

Would prefer to do them by hand (an SAD student)Mind mapping was a welcome and useful tool which has given me a positive outlookwhen approaching this type of work. Excellent addition to an educational module


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Mind mapping played a major part in deciding on our final product.Thank you for introducing me to mind managerGood for planning and organising

Further evidence of the effectiveness of the technique was obtained from feedback sessionswith the students which helped confirm the results of the questionnaire. Feedback from

the module tutors in relation to the effect on student essays also confirmed that in generalthe standard had improved over last year. It is interesting to note that although the numberof fail grades did not alter significantly however closer examination revealed that lack ofattendance and lack of engagement with the module activities in relation to the use ofmind manager etc. were significant factors with these students. What was evident was thethere were fewer grades at the lower end of the spectrum and a higher number of verygood grades compared to the previous year.

Figure 5: Ease of use


fig 5-a Ease of use (SCIT) fig 5-b Ease of use (SAD)

Both sets of students were reasonably IT literate and it is only surprising that one of theSCIT students found it so difficult to learn. Not surprising though that SAD students

found it a little more difficult.Figure 6: Export to Word


fig 6-a Export to Word (SCIT) fig 6-b Export to Word (SAD)

The results were very similar from both groups. Clearly this export function proved usefulfor them although it must be borne in mind that the assessment task was a word processedessay and the supplied workbook on MindManager had provided a significant level ofscaffolding since the workbook task involved designing the structure of the students essay


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Figure 7: Export to Powerpoint


fig 7-a Export to PowerPoint (SCIT) fig 7-b Export to PowerPoint (SAD)

There was a less enthusiastic response to this question. Although a PowerPoint presentationwas required as part of the assessment exercises for this module, students did not seem to

find this feature as useful as the export to Word function.

Figure 8: Continued use


fig 8-a Continue with software (SCIT) fig 8-b Continue with software (SAD)

This response is not dissimilar from the response to the question in the previous sectionrelating to the continued use of the mind mapping technique. It would seem that students

would continue to use the software if they continued to use the technique.

Both groups of students would expect to use software applications within their specialistactivities (Computer Science on the one hand and Digital Media on the other) so it was notsurprising that overall they found a software application for the technique of mind mapping

to be both easy to use and useful. Verbal feedback reinforced the findings of the questionnairewith students being very positive about the software and asking for it to be able in a largernumber of computer labs as well as enquiring about the availability of personal copies foruse on their own machines.

Comments on the questionnaires relating to software included

Very good technique software difficult to obtain and use it

Great software will continue to use

make a copy available to download, not enough copies in only one computer suite


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Future developments

It has been encouraging to note the continued use of mind mapping, and MindManager,by students as they pursue project work in subsequent modules.

Overall this has been a very successful project with some valuable teaching materials having

been developed and with students being introduced to a useful technique that has clearlyhelped in improving the structure, coherence and therefore the quality of their written

work.

It is hoped that a further project will be go forward to disseminate what has been learnedthrough this one and extend the use of mind mapping technique through the use of softwareapplications including MindManager. Clearly there is scope to improve the academicperformance through both written and practical work by providing students with theability to plan and structure their projects more effectively.

an investigation into the concept of mapping

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